It is, no question, the state's standard-bearer for regional theater, delivering world-class productions ranging from light entertainment to profound art, performed amid the Old World charm of the Herberger Theater Center's main stage.

Our favorite shows of the 2009-10 season weren't the hip off-Broadway musical or the lavish new "Kite Runner" but two warhorses: an "Ain't Misbehavin' " that was every bit as sexy and naughty as when Fats Waller wrote the tunes decades ago, and a brilliantly stylized "Glass Menagerie" that reminded us that the magic of theater is different from any other performing art.